Testing a block within the car?

Hi, Is it possible to test a Block within the car, if so, what and how much would i have to strip down, i have explain more about this in my other posting, i have a compressor, and i can make blanks at work to block appertures off, the previous owner has removed one of the heads and he came to the opinion that a liner has slipped, i cant tell if this is the case unless it doesnt have to move much. so i thought of checking the block,then maybe replacing the head-gaskets then see what happens. So please give me some advice. Colin

dont think its possible mate. really they need to be heated!

see yer other post!

The only test I know is the coolant "Sniff" test. Additionally, even if you made perfectly flat plates and used gaskets you would be checking a cold engine. to be completely effective, the test would have to be at working temperature to take into account any expansion in the aluminium block and highlight any leakage around the cylinder liners

Perfectly acceptable thing to do,as said the engine shops use hot water to test,but the Rv8's that I've seen with block faults would show up easily on cold water.A customer of mine made up some blanking plates and did a 3.9 Classic in situ - it failed !The other point is that you could always use more air pressure when you test it.
I trust you know about the givaway rusty marks around the liner lips and the liners that drop slightly.
P.S. Dont do it with the water pump on - the seal wont like it.

colin emailed some pics of the left bank, the middle two looked suspect but the deck was flat and looked as one piece. the pots dont look washed as such, the head has been off a while too so its prolly hard to say. aparantly no 3 plug was rusty when the previous owner took it out. not sure the plugs go rusty when liner probs are there????

i sugested testing head first then look at other side and block test!! didnt think it could be done in situ tho!

Rusty plugs are a good danger sign of a block problem,esp on cyls 3,4,5 and 6 - there are no coolant passages near them,Streamly unlikely to be a cracked head,never seen one do it.The thing about doing a pressure test in situ yourself is that there is no time pressure involved,fill the block with water and pump say 30psi into it,leave overnight and look in the morning.

just going on what i read when mine went, i was under the impression the block was 'cooked' somehow to raise its temp then tested under higher pressure. would a leakdown test show the same result as the above method?

if he made a plate up(obviously he's got the means to and its not gonna put him out too much) how would he seal it to the block? where should the piston be? (presume bottom) and what will results be if its cracked block and liner?

suppose i'm asking whats the method/procedure??? is it worth making a plate over all the pots and testing the lot? obvously if its made well it can be flipped to suit the other side?

also i have seen somewhere on the net(think it might have been rpi's site) a sectional view of the block showing what look like voids between the pots in the centres of each bank. they state that these are not uniform in wall thickness and cause block failure, is this consistant with plugs bieng rusty?

The commercial pressure testers use steel plates which clamp over the coolant passages using the head bolt threads as fixings.The plates use thin piece of rubber to seal.One of the plates has an air fitting on it to pump up the block,which is immersed into hot water for a while - any bubbles give the cracks away.
I used to build engines for a reconditioner on a subcontract basis,but paid little attention to the pressure tester as I never had to use it - all the bits I was given had been sorted,ready to use.What I can remember tho,is that certain blocks/heads showed cracks easier than others,and needed different temp/time/pressure according to what it was.
With a Rv8 it wont really matter where the pistons are if you are self testing,fill the block with coloured water and pressurize it.Most likely leaks will be between the block and the very top edge of one of the liners.Wouldnt suprise be about the so called core shift,all the tooling was getting old and QC was not much cop.The plugs rust overnight when residual pressure in the cooling system forces it into the combustion chambers,often that cyl will misfire for a few secs on start up too.Seen plugs break off before where the bottom of the threads rust so much they lock up and seize.